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After doing a ton of free shows I'm finally starting to reap the benifits. I'm doing my first two paid kid's parties tommorow. Both have come out of the other shows I did. They're also back to back with very little time in between - not such a good idea, but it's just such a good oppurtunity I couldn't say no.
Wish me luck

Good luck!

Definatly! Good luck pal.

Your stronger than me if you can cope with kids' shows! enjoy it!

Well done and good luck. Just make sure you let us know how they go...


(and just remember don't do that rubber band routine you sometimes do!)

Thanks

and just remember don't do that rubber band routine you sometimes do!

hmm - thanks for the reminder. I'll stick to balloon animals this time

you go for it man remember show no fear or they will play you up somting silly.
also remember kids see eveything so use selfworkers were you can.

How much is Mr Squishy charging?

Hope the shows went well, and more importantly that the bookers paid promptly

Mark

chandue big hint http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic1219.php age and profile link.

all of my booking are paid in advance its the best habbit to get into as you will only ever get stiffed once.

taneos we are all ears as to how it goes so let us know when you can, hope mr squishy put in an appearence.

Thanks for all the encouragement. I ended up doing 3 shows on saturday - it was raining so a friend of mine phoned me up and asked if I would help out. I don't know if I'll do 3 shows in a day that close together - it's quite exhausting.

The two paid shows went well. The first one had no problems. The birthday child is quite hyperactive so I was a bit nervous about that, but I performed as if I was performing for him and he got to choose magic words etc and so that sort of kept him under control. I performed for about 30 mins cos I could see that any longer would have lost their attantion (3 & 4 year olds).

The second show was also good, but there are a couple of things I've taken note of to maybe change the next time. The people were really rich and I must admit I felt a bit pressurized because they were paying me. I arrived a bit early to set up, but because of the rain all the kids were crowded around me. I didn't dare leave my stuff alone so I started performing while I was packing out - which worked quite well (that's where Mr Sqishy came in). I performed for about an hour (4-6 yr olds) Then we broke for cake and candles, after which I did balloon modelling and a bit of walkaround amongst the kids and adults.

The negatives of the second show were that the adults were talking all the way through the show and I found i had to compete with them. The kids didn't mind - but it distracted me.
I also hadn't arranged before hand what would happen when my show was finished, so i started doing balloons and was 'attacked' by about 30 kids wanting different balloons. Fortunately the host came and said they were going to do cake and candles.
One of my rope tricks is a bit too long and I could see the kids didn't get it, but that was really the only thing that didn't work too well.
I also figured out a way to load my dove pan during the show - so I can leave my guinae pig production till the end and the poor creature doesn't have to sit in the dove pan the whole time. I'll post about that a bit later

Nice one buddy!

Thinking of the ending to the show, mayeb you could ask the organisers how many kids there'll be at the party, then you can make enough balloons for everyone. Make one style for the boys, and one for the girls (if you can get the figures that exact from the grown-ups), and simply dish them out.

You could maybe make one special balloon for the birthday kid at the end of the show, then give all the other kids their 'ready-made' balloons after that. That way you can have some fun with the birthday kid and do some balloon gags with the little darling.

And did Mr Squishy make an appearance?

swords / lightsabers for the boys, flowers / poodles for the girls easy to make in bulk and interchangable too.

Yeah yeah yeah

A magi that I know actually makes around 30 swords pre-show, and threads the handles onto a long garden cane type thing - if he arranges them nice, it looks really good - like a fountain of swords. He then sells them at 50p each - maybe don't charge, but just an idea for presentation...